"Bildungsroman, the term applied to novels of 'education' (in the widest sense), of which many of the best examples are German. Wieland's Agathon (1765-6) is generally thought of as the first example of the genre, but the best and most imitated was Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship) ... [providing] the model of the innocent, inexperienced, well-meaning, but often foolish and erring, young man who sets out in life with either no aim in mind or the wrong one. By a series of false starts and mistakes and with help from well-disposed friends he makes in the course of his experiences, he finally reaches maturity ... The genre overlaps with the older type of the picaresque novel, but is more philosophical.

The German term Bildungsroman has been adopted in English criticism as a result of the fame during the 19th cent. of Wilhelm Meister and Carlyle's semi-fictional Sartor Resartus (1833-4)."

Drabble, Margaret, editor. "Bildungsroman." The Oxford Companion to English Literature, sixth edition, Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 100.

In the modern day, Bildungsroman has come to describe the coming of age novel, where a young, usually innocent protagonist learns, and often tries to change, their place in the world. A true Bildungsroman shows growth of character and attaining maturity, either physically, emotionally or spiritually.